Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 Would Have Starred a Grown-Up Newt

Now that Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel/Alien prequel, Alien: Covenant, is moving forward at a breakneck pace, Neill Blomkamp's sequel seems to have been retired. This makes us sad, and we're about to get even sadder, as Aliens actor Michael Biehn claims that Blomkamp's Alien 5 would have included one of our favorite characters from the Alien universe: the scrappy and short-lived Newt.

"They're planning on bringing me and Newt back and at this point Newt will be around twenty-seven years old," Biehn told Icons of Fright. "I know that every actress in Hollywood is going to want to play this one, it's really a passing of the torch between Sigourney and this younger actress who would play Newt. It would keep the franchise alive and the studios would make money, because that's what the bottom line is now: money. That's why you end up seeing Terminator 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 10 and The Fast And Furious 7, 8, 9, and 10."

As Alien fans may remember, Alien 3 killed off beloved supporting characters Newt and Hicks (played by Biehn) in a controversial fashion. They were unceremoniously killed off-screen, and many fans (myself included) felt that it didn't do the characters justice. But since Blomkamp had planned to ignore the mostly hated Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, Newt and Hicks were both fair game. Carrie Henn, who played Newt in Aliens, wouldn't return, as the child actress chose not to pursue an acting career after the film wrapped, but since the character is so much older now, it would be fairly easy to recast.

"The basic idea is acting like Alien 3 and 4 never existed," said Biehn. "I know Ridley Scott is doing his movie first and is going to be the executive producer on this one, so I'm really looking forward to that. I know that Ridley's focus is on [Alien: Covenant] and I'm sure that he and Fox both don't want that and Neill's movie to come out right next to each other, because they're kind of two different worlds, with Aliens taking place thousands of years later, which is how they explained it all to me, but at the same time, they want to give them a similar feel. I know they're putting the brakes on Neill's movie just for a little while, but I really think that it would be embarrassing to Ridley and Fox and Sigourney [Weaver] if they just didn't make the movie."

Although it makes sense that Fox would place their faith in Ridley Scott's vision after his huge success with The Martian, we hope this movie gets made as well. There's no reason the Prometheus series and the Alien series can't both exist, and although Blomkamp's efforts after his wonderful debut, District 9, have been questionable at best, he seems to have a real love for the series. Fans responded positively to the concept art, and like Biehn said, passing off the torch to a younger actress is definitely a cynical formula for success in Hollywood, so it seems like a no-brainer. Hopefully it will happen once the Prometheus series has quieted down.